


touch my body

by clawsnbeak



Series: Pynch Prompt Collection [1]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish Is Trying His Best, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hurt Adam Parrish, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Massage, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, Ronan Lynch Swears, Soft Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 06:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19739845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clawsnbeak/pseuds/clawsnbeak
Summary: After an unlucky fall down the stairs of St. Agnes, Adam is in a lot of pain. That is until Ronan offers to massage him.I think we all know how this is going to unfold.





	touch my body

Falling down the stairs of St. Agnes wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to Adam that day. The chain on his bike had been rusted to the point of breaking, which it did, right before his shift at the garage. Adam had to walk, or run, to nearly the other side of town and had been half an hour late. He was lucky that he didn’t get fired right away.

Adam felt the tiredness seeping into his bones during the shift and knew he had to walk all the way back, but he didn’t feel like asking his friends for help. He couldn’t handle their pity on a normal this, and seeing it now would have caused his breaking point. 

His day couldn’t possibly be shittier than it was now.

After walking the good hour back to his shitty little apartment, his vision had blurred with exhaustion. One moment he was walking up the stairs, the next he was tripping and rolling down, scrambling to find something to hold on to.

The stairs, like the church itself, was old, meaning no handrail on the side to prevent Adam from falling down all the way and landing painfully on his back.

Adam had laid there for a good few minutes, not wanting to get up at all anymore. Of course, this might as well happen to him.

He eventually dragged himself up and walked the stairs again, more carefully this time. An injury was not something he could afford right now.

There were pages of homework waiting for him on the other side of his door, taunting him with the fact that even now he couldn’t take some time off to let his body heal. He could feel the bruises starting to form on his back but he was used to pushing through the pain.

So he did it again.

He stationed himself at his cardboard box desk and started with his Latin homework to get it out of the way.

It was barely half an hour later before there was angry knocking at his door, which could only mean one thing.

_Ronan Lynch._

“Come in!” Adam called, trying to make his voice clear over the pounding at the door. He knew he couldn’t get up and open the door himself, he didn’t even know if he could get up at all at this point. His back was killing him and he wished he had some form of pain killers to take but his emergency kit was pathetically empty.

Chainsaw flew in first, landing on Adam’s shoulder which he could normally hold very easily. Now, however, he cringed away, his shoulder giving under the weight of the large raven.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Ronan to Adam’s chagrin.

“The fuck happened to you, Parrish?” 

Ronan tried to sound indifferent, maybe even mocking, but it sounded concerned more than anything. Adam didn’t have the energy to think about that too hard.

Adam sighed and confessed, “Fell down the stairs.”

“How did you manage to do that?”

Ronan was closer now. Adam could feel his eyes roaming over his body, leaving a burning path in its wake. Adam should be angry that Ronan was checking him for injuries like he had done so many times when he was still living at home. This time, though, Adam couldn’t find it in himself to care. It felt good that someone cared, even if it came with a bitter tinge of self-hatred that someone had to care about him.

He didn’t want to feel helpless and pitied. He wanted to be able to do everything on his own without needing people’s help. _Everything comes with a price_ , Adam reminded himself, _even the things people do for you out of the goodness of their hearts_.

  
And Adam had no way of paying people back.

Ronan felt different, for some reason. It had never felt like he wanted more from Adam than Adam could give. Everything Ronan had done for him, paying his rent, dreaming up hand cream, had felt like a gift. Something he didn’t have to return.

His next words felt like that as well.

“Do you…well…I mean…I could give you a massage?” Ronan stammered, his ears reddening when Adam turned around to look at him.

“Your back, Parrish,” Ronan clarified, steadier this time. “It’s hurting.”

Adam had been rubbing it unconsciously and stopped when he felt Ronan’s eyes fall on his hands. It wasn’t a bad offer and Adam knew what it took for Ronan to suggest this. 

The lines between their friendship and something more had been blurred for a long time now. Neither of them had dared to overstep it. 

Until now.

Adam accepted. He was tired of dancing around each other, he was tired of pretending he couldn’t feel Ronan’s eyes on him, he was tired of pretending that he wasn’t looking back.

He moved to his mattress, Ronan following him, and laid down on his stomach, his head on his arms in front of him.

For a few seconds he heard nothing and he felt the panic rise in his chest. _Oh god, this was a terrible idea._

But then he felt Ronan move next to him and his warm hands on his back. Ronan mistook the shiver that went through Adam’s entire body as pain and quickly removed his hands.

“It’s fine,” Adam said. “Keep going.”

Ronan placed his hands on his back again, rubbing softly. Adam couldn’t hold in the sigh that was threatening to slip out, so he let it happen and sunk deeper into the mattress. 

Adam could feel Ronan’s hands getting bolder after some time and it felt good. It felt _fantastic._ Adam didn’t expect Ronan to be this gentle but somewhere he wasn’t surprised. From the moment he saw Ronan holding that baby mouse against his cheek, Adam knew his entire perception on Ronan had changed.

“This…” Ronan stopped himself and didn’t speak again, obviously regretting saying something at all.

“This what?” Adam prompted, his voice soft.

“This would be easier with your shirt off.”

  
Ronan had said it like he was ripping off a bandaid, almost too fast for Adam to understand, but he did.

He didn’t hesitate to lift himself up until he was on his knees, careful enough to not strain his back too much, and moved to take his shirt off without a word.

Adam couldn’t hold in the wince when his shirt was halfway off and his back felt like it could give out at any moment. Ronan rushed forward and helped him get the shirt over his head.

  
Ronan was closer than he had been before. Adam could make out every single little scar on Ronan’s face, the individual specks in his eyes. Ronan’s eyes were clear and soft. He had never seen Ronan this open before.

_I’m going to kiss him_.

And then Ronan kissed him.

It was hesitant and slow but not unpleasant. 

When Adam lifted his hands up to cup Ronan’s face, Ronan’s lips grew steadier, surer of himself. 

  
Ronan’s hands moved to Adam’s hips, feeling his naked skin for the first time and Adam gasped into Ronan’s mouth.

The kisses were harder, leaving fire low in Adam’s stomach. Adam tried to get closer to Ronan, but he felt like he could never be close enough.

  
“Fuck,” Adam flinched, drawing back from the kiss suddenly as a sharp pain went through his back. Ronan’s eyes were edged with confusion and slight hurt, his eyes closing off like a wall being built up again. 

“It’s my back,” Adam said quickly, placing his hands on Ronan’s shoulders to make him stay, but for leverage as well. “I think I strained it more when we were…”

“Making out,” Ronan teased, wiggling his eyebrows. He was more cheerful than Adam ever encountered him and somewhere he wondered if he got a glimpse back into the old Ronan from before his father’s death.

He wanted to see Ronan like this again, carefree and smiling a true smile. The sharpness of his face had softened after the kiss. It no longer felt like Ronan could cut him if he touched him. Adam took use of this and traced his cheekbone.

“Yeah,” Adam said smiling. “Making out.”

“I don’t do casual,” Ronan said, more serious this time. The glee was still evident in his eyes but there was a hesitation as well. 

Adam could break him easily. He held Ronan’s heart in his hands and he could do everything with it that he wanted to and Ronan would let him.

Adam was going to protect it.

“This,” Adam whispered, gesturing between the two of them, “was never casual.”

Ronan smiled and kissed him again. “Still up for that massage.”

“Definitely.”


End file.
